Tiahuanaco tapestry

The first part of this study describes a series of experiments designed to answer some of the questions on how aqueous and nonaqueous treatments alter the morphology and chemical composition of fibers taken from a Tiahuanaco tapestry. The second part of this study focuses on the colorfastness to dry cleaning of naturally colored wool fabrics. This second study was undertaken because no information on the colorfastness of these types of colorants to dry cleaning could be found in the literature. A recently published paper (3) on drycleaning of historic textiles indicates that conservators are using this nonaqueous type of cleaning as a method of textile conservation. 

Tiahuanaco Tapestry. A fragment of a classic Tihuanaco Middle Horizon tapestry (52145a-18046) was made available for this study by the Milwaukee Public Museum from die collection of Malcom K. Whyte. Figure 1 shows a... 

Figure 2. Cotton fiber (2250X) from Tiahuanaco tapestry, no treatment.

I would like to thank Nancy Norton and Lori Houg-Dobeck for their help in the experimental part of this study Daniel F. Caulfield, Forest Product Laboratory, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Madison, Wisconsin, for his assistance in the X-ray diffractive analysis and John Stucker, R. R. Street Company, Oakbrook, Illinois, who facilitated the dry-cleaning field study. Appreciation is also extended to the Milwaukee Public Museum which provided the Tiahuanaco tapestry. Financial support for this study was obtained from the Graduate School of the University of Wisconsin—Madison and the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 

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